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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22835152">The pearl the moon dropped and the ship the sea threw it on</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChicagosLights/pseuds/ChicagosLights'>ChicagosLights</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alcohol, Angst, Attempted Sexual Assault, F/M, M/M, Pirate AU, Siren!Patrick, a lot of bad stuff happens and a lot of good stuff happens, im bad at tags, in a bad way, there's a scene I don't know how to tag, to sum it up someone tries messing with Patrick's Siren anatomy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:15:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22835152</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChicagosLights/pseuds/ChicagosLights</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Once when Pete was younger there'd been a ship with a sea witch, she'd told him something that he'd always taken to heart. One fateful night during a storm that seems like God's wrath is thrown down on him a siren is thrown onto his ship, injured and disoriented Pete decides to keep it. As such is the nature of pirates he learns of a treasure that no man should seek, regardless of even the siren's warnings his crew set sail to discover this treasure. </p>
<p>I'm bad at summaries, slowly pete realizes maybe he interpretted the sea witch's advice to him in a more twisted light and he and Patrick get to know each other. Maybe they do fall in love, maybe they don't, we'll see.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Some believe God can bring about the weather, some believe it is simply nature or science; regardless of beliefs it certainly seemed like the wrath of </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>was being brought down on the Clandestine, the crew all starting to think they better believe in God if they wanted to survive the lashing rain and the onslaught of waves. The crew had tied themselves the moment Travis had seen the clouds rolling overhead but even so they were tossed about like dolls, a few ropes even snapping and crew barely managing to catch other crew; maybe God’s wrath was punishing these pirates but the captain didn’t believe in the ramblings of the crew members racing past him to get to the lower deck. No, to the captain this meant something was going to happen, some kind of omen whether good or bad was about to be thrown into the captain’s way and despite having a bloody head injury from a stray hook he stood at the helm determined to see just what the ocean had planned for him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You’re out of your goddamn mind!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>the captain barely flinches as his first mate grabs his shoulder and yanks him to face him, annoyingly the captain has to look up “god dammit Pete I don’t care if you’re the captain get below deck before this storm throws you into the sea!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pete barely reacts, he pushes the hand off his shoulder but grabs the rope around the other man “don’t yell at me Gabe, shut up and watch” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Watch what you mad man!” another wave crashed over and both were sent to the floor, coughing up water Gabe grabbed Pete and hauled him up “god damn you, we’re going below and you can kick and curse me all you want-!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And then it happened. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Another wave, more falling to the ground and ropes around both men threatening to snap, and Pete stares at what the water threw on the deck; the lightning for once does not allow him to see but he can make out the shape of a human but the bottom half- Gabe shouts and jerks Pete away as something blindingly white nearly thrashes into both men, Gabe releases Pete’s arm yelling “to hell with you!” and practically tears the rope away from himself before standing and rushing out of sight. Pete knows better though and as he starts to scramble towards the shape thrashing around on deck he knows Gabe is going to come back and save his sorry ass; Pete felt something thick on the arm he grabbed, blood for sure but coming from here? He ignored this and scooted as close as he could with what give the rope would allow and started trying to pull the figure along with him, this resulted in the white thing-a large glistening fish tail that looked almost as if it were made of crystals when the lightning exploded- thrashing and surely leaving bruises on Pete’s legs. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Faintly over the storm Pete heard the sound of running feet and sure enough Gabe had returned, grabbing the thrashing tail and yelling at Pete to start lifting if he wanted to save whatever this thing was; there was much slipping and sliding around, the creature despite being wounded still struggled in the arms of both men, when finally both men stumbled into the captain’s quarters. Pete slipped on the mixture of water and blood beginning to pool on the ground and dropped the top half of the creature, Gabe cursed and dropped his end to shut the door before hurrying over to a corner of the room where a large coffin sized tank lay; for once it seemed that Pete’s eccentric tastes came in handy, the stupid glass tank filled with sea-plants no longer seemed like a poor waste of gold to Gabe as both men carried the creature to it and tried their best to carefully lay it inside. It was a little easier now as it seemed to have tired out and once it lay in the water Pete and Gabe dropped to the floor gasping and wheezing from the cold and pain.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What...in the hell...did you bring?” Gabe rubbed at his throat in an attempt to steady his breathing, turning to look at Pete though set his panic off again “why the hell are you covered in blood!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because that thing is injured” Pete gestured to the creature and struggled to even get to his knees to scoot closer to the tank, he ignored Gabe’s disapproving noise as he began to look through the murky water best he could “what are the chances the kegs are catching this water?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re an idiot if you think we can drink it what with the waves-oh, of course, for your new pet…” Gabe trailed off as he finally took in the creature, eyes widening “holy shit” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pete agreed as he moved back to Gabe’s side, this was a creature that was only supposed to exist in wild tales yet there it lay in his tank; upper half of pale skin and filthy looking hair probably from the storm and bottom half a pure-white tail with a large threatening looking fin. The creature had tired itself out and now lay in the quickly reddening water, that worried Pete indeed but his thoughts turned back to the crew that were below deck; giving Gabe the order to head below to wait the storm out his first mate didn’t argue with him again. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That thing shouldn’t be here, Pete” Gabe eyed it warily from where he stood by the door “when it wakes back up throw it back, that thing shouldn’t be on a ship and it shouldn’t be here with us” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pete made no move that he acknowledged Gabe’s words, the man cursed at his captain again before heading back out in the storm. Alone now Pete moved back to the tank’s side and reached up to move aside some of the dirty hair sticking to the creature’s face, soft and beautiful he took in the creature’s face before becoming startled and backing away a little; either this thing has come kind of a charm over it that even when fainted could allure someone or Pete had been a little too lonely for too long. He shook his head and glanced back at the door, the whole ship was creaking and moaning from the storm and Pete wondered if maybe Gabe was right about throwing it back into the ocean, maybe the storm would be silenced in some ritualistic way if he tossed the injured creature back into the sea. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A soft noise broke Pete’s thoughts and his head snapped back to looking at the creature, his face was scrunched up in discomfort and the same whimper came from it. Against better judgement Pete reached up and cupped his face shushing him softly, no, Gabe was just afraid of what he didn’t know; Pete wasn’t going to throw this creature back into the sea, he didn’t know how long it’d take it to be healed but even then Pete didn’t plan on throwing it back. Words from a time gone creeped back into his mind as he stroked his thumb along the whimpering creature’s cheek:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The moon and the sea talk, and when they talk they plan, and when they plan they throw their actions into the ways of other people. When the sea has gifted you something you must never take it for granted for doing so would be an insult. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And well, Pete had no intentions of insulting the sea or the moon, even if he didn’t believe they were deities of sorts.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When the storm finally broke it felt too good to be true, Pete hadn’t known how long he’d sat beside the fainted creature until someone had banged their fist on his door several times.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Doc’s tending to the injured, you need to come out too” bless Travis’ heart but right now all Pete wanted to do was see if the creature would wake up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine” he waited for Travis to question him but only heard footsteps becoming faint.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pete sighed as he stood up, wincing at the sting in his backside, and reached out again to run his fingers through the filthy hair; he was certain when this thing woke up the creature would attack him, panic and scream, if Pete thought he’d be able to keep him a secret then he was an idiot for thinking so since he was certain the commotion would have the crew questioning just what was in his quarters. Maybe he could store him down below when all but Travis and Gabe were asleep, have them help him keep the creature with the rest of the goods until he could decide just what to do with him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just what are you anyway” Pete mumbled as he trailed fingers down the sides of the creature’s face, where there would’ve been earsd Pete instead felt the webbing of fin-like ears...at least he assumed they were the creatures ears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Was it a mermaid? Maybe, though most of the time in all those stories and art Pete had seen and heard mermaids were supposed to be soft and gentle looking; this creature had finned ears, a smushed dorsal fin that looked as if it could cut Pete if he barely ran his hand along it, and webbed hands with claws at the ends. Hm, maybe...just maybe...he moved away to the other side of his quarters where a shelf of books stood; did he still have it? Pete might’ve thrown the book away in one of his fits...aha! Triumphantly he pulled the old faded purple book from it’s spot and like magic opened the book right to the spot he wanted to, the ink drawing of a Siren. There’s similarities, though the one in the book has more fins and sharper edges than the creature sleeping in the tank, Pete simply stares at the drawing as if it could come to life and tell him just why a Siren-assuming that’s what this creature was-had been thrown onto Pete’s ship and just what was in the future for him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When the door opens Pete doesn’t realize he throws the book until he hears Gabe curse as it cracks him in the eye, would’ve been a perfect shot if it was someone coming to hurt him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God man, are you trying to kill me too?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Too? What do you mean by that, and I haven’t killed him” Pete snapped as he went over and snatched the book from the floor “I assume you were tended to?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bruises, nothing I haven’t felt before” Gabe turned his gaze to glare at the fainted creature “so it’s still alive? Good, throw it in the damn water already Pete”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pete’s grip on the book tightened “you know damn well why I won’t”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabe opened his mouth to say something but instead closed it, actually hissing and while it was amusing it annoyed Pete. It went without saying that Gabe was not to tell anyone of the creature, at least not yet, but as Pete allowed his first mate to drag him down to the lower deck where Doc was he felt the same stirring of what was best called possessiveness at the thought of anyone knowing of the creature in his quarters; Gabe blamed Pete’s head injury on his paranoia to get back to the creature right away, he let Pete hear his griping all the way back up and to the quarters. He ignored him until it began to grate on his nerves, finally snapping at him that if it irked him so much then Pete would set to seeing the damages of the ship and take stock to be away from the creature for a moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Will that convince you enough that I’m not under a spell?” Pete winced and placed a hand over the gauze on his head, yelling was giving him a headache </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabe huffed, sending the creature one last glare “I never said a spell, you’re the one who did. That’s an omen, Pete, you’ll see soon” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Most of the rum kegs had been destroyed due to the rocking, a few barrels of fruit strewn about but somehow everything was fine, even the ship had fared well and none of the ropes and sails had been torn by the wind; regarding the crew most had bruises and a few bumps on the head, Pete somehow being the only one with a bloody wound. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“An omen” Gabe said again once Travis had found a new course to resupply, Pete had to fight the urge to give Gabe a bruised eye “you’re the only one with a bloody head, isn’t that suspicious?”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up already about omens, last I checked you didn’t believe in fables” Pete grumbled, sending Gabe a look daring him to continue </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>And of course Gabe did “that thing in your quarters shouldn’t be real but it is, and right now it’s sitting on a ship. If the stories are true that thing can cause the sea to swallow us up, bring its own kind to scale the ship and devour us all” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Pete laughed wryly and shook his head, grabbing Gabe’s sleeve and pulling him to the wheel “listen to you, raving like some child told a frightening story. Just get us where we need and then I’ll listen to you after a bit of rum” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Under his breath Gabe mumbled “bastard” but stayed at the wheel as Pete headed to his quarters, if the thing was awake Gabe decided he’d let it eat Pete. Unfortunately for Gabe the creature was still fainted much to Pete’s relief and concern, had it died? Anything can happen in minutes and despite the creature making sound earlier that didn’t mean it hadn’t passed in Pete’s absence, kneeling beside the tank he sighed in relief to see the chest rising and falling slowly. He moved to sit beside the tank once more and reached up to once again pet teh creatures face; night would fall soon and he would have to bring Travis in to see the creature and explain his need for assistance, dumping the tank wouldn’t be much of an issue but carrying it and the creature back would be a struggle...of course Pete could just leave the creature in here for a few moments and return with clean water and the tank but would that kill it in the meantime? Where were the things gills anyway? </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>He was too deep in thought before he realized that the cheek he was petting was squishing further into his hand, Pete’s head snapped up and he met half-lidded blue eyes. It’s possible that time stopped at that moment as Pete tensed up almost painfully, expecting the creature to lash out at him, take out an eye maybe or rip his throat open; none of that happens though, instead the creature presses his face further into Pete’s hand and lets out the same low whimper as before. Just because he’s docile right now doesn’t mean he really is, Pete reminded him, he gently stroked his thumb along the creature’s cheek again before starting to pull his hand back; a mistake as the creature screeched leaving a ringing in Pete’s ears as he snatched the captain’s hand back to his cheek, almost instantly though the creature began to make distressed sobbing sounds and screeches most likely due to whatever injury it had. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Pete! What the hell is going on in there?” Gabe’s voice was outside the door along with the murmurings of other crew members.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Well fuck, guess the crew were going to learn about the creature now “if Doc is with you bring him in!” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Pete knows better but he grabs the creature by his arm anyway and pulls him closer, Pete hisses and the webbed hands dig their claws into him; it’s not his imagination that there are smaller sharper fins cutting through his shirt as well to dig into his arms. There’s fumbling steps then Doc stumbles in by Gabe shoving him, Travis is hauled in as well and while he stands in shock Doc hurries to Pete’s side; the creature doesn’t react well to the new comers, screeching turns into some kind of nightmarish screaming and Pete attempts (ultimately failing of course) to calm it down by hushing and running his hand through the creature’s hair. Doc can’t do anything with the thrashing tail, Pete berates himself mentally as filthy water splashes onto the floor but right now he needs to make sure this thing doesn’t rip Doc’s face off; Gabe managed to finally get Travis to snap out of his stupor as both men are now wrestling with the creatures tail to keep it from hitting Doc. Finally Pete managed to press the creature’s face into his shoulder, as awkward as the angle was it gave Doc time to quickly plunge his hands into the water and instantly find the wound judging by the scream that deafened Pete. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Doc backed away quickly and rushed out of the quarters, unfortunately leaving the door wide open and while usually the crew respected Pete’s privacy it seemed everyone was rushing to get a look inside; wide eyes and mouths agape set Pete’s nerves off again and viciously he snarled “does this look like a show to you? Back to work!” quickly they all scrambled away, knowing better than to anger their captain. The creature had given up screaming and now sobbed miserably into Pete’s shoulder, now the claws weren’t digging in with intent to get away bu intent to keep the captain closer; assuming it meant he wasn’t going to attack Pete Gabe left Travis alone to hold the tail to shut the door, calling to the two men “I”m going to find Doc”. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Travis dropped the tail-causing another splash and Pete wincing because god dammit those rugs had cost so much gold-and scooted away to the far wall staring with a mixture of awe and fear.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Wha...what...that” he couldn’t even manage a sentence, poor man. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“During the storm, he was thrown on deck” Pete hisses as the nails finally pierce his skin “he’s injured”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Injured? That thing could kill you!” god dammit, Travis too? “What is it, Pete?” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Good question, he still wasn’t sure if it was a Siren or a Merman “hell if I know”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t even know and yet you’re keeping him on the ship?” Travis let out a short nervous laugh before scooting back to the tank but keeping distance “what do you even think Doc can do, Pete? That thing isn’t human”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know!” Pete hissed as the head in his pain spiked worse and his shouting had the creature crying loudly again “what the hell is that man doing”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, god make it stop screaming Pete!” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No shit </span>
  </em>
  <span>ignoring the pain in his arms from the claws he started rubbing circles on the creatures back again, gentle touches seemed to keep it calm because the screaming turned to soft weeping within seconds. Outside Pete could hear murmurings, damn them all but he couldn’t blame them for their confusion seeing what they’d seen, after all this thing weeping in Pete’s arms was meant to be in fables not real life; the door opened again and Pete bit his tongue seeing that it was Doc and not more gawkers, this time the man carefully walked over and it was only until it happened that Pete had realized Doc had a small blade in his hand. Pete cried out in pain and jerked away from the creature to grab at his shoulder, he looked at Doc in complete shock realizing he’d just </span>
  <em>
    <span>stabbed </span>
  </em>
  <span>him-his captain! Travis shouted and grabbed the man, most likely planning on doing the same to him when Gabe stumbled in in time to order Travis to stop. To hell with that, Pete thought as he wrenched the knife out of his shoulder, had the storm made the doctor mad? Had the creature influenced him to try and take Pete’s life? The little fucker would be next if that was the case-</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>He freezes when he feels the light touch of fingers colder than ice; when he looks the creature has a different expression now, worry and a look of fear in the eyes looking into Pete’s, hands flitting around at the wounds not only his shoulder but the ones the creature created. Once again time seemed to stop as frigid hands pressed onto Pete’s arms and despite the stinging pain he watched in rapt wonder as the water in the tank suddenly became clear and began to creepy up the arms of the creature. Like vines, Pete thought as they twisted around until they touched his own skin, eyes widening as he watched his skin closing and the blood disappearing altogether. It was muggy in the cabin yet the water felt like the north seas had been dumped onto Pete’s skin, he felt the water creep up to his shoulder and all of this became too much; he pushed the creature away from his and time seemed to start up again. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Travis was by his side helping him sit up, Doc had left the cabin (good, Pete decided it was best since he still wanted to wring his neck) and Gabe had moved to join the two men on the floor. The creature was out again, whether because Pete had stopped...whatever he’d had been doing or maybe fatigue his head lolled to the side and eyes were closed. Something about what had just happened felt wrong now, at least wrong to Pete having so many eyes watching, was Gabe right after all? It had to just be paranoia or the mix of emotions Pete had been feeling at seeing...well he could best describe it as a miracle that had the sinking feeling in his stomach rolling around. Travis had been speaking to him, probably asking if he was alright, but Pete pushed away from him and crawled to the tank again; there was silence before softly Pete gave a simple order:</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Go about your duties, don’t come back here until nightfall. That’s an order” </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>sorry the first two chapters have been so short, I'm honestly just posting the way they were written at first and a lot of the first maybe 4 chapters are kinda short (or I'm just paranoid)<br/>thank you for reading so far!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Travis had no problem leaving but Gabe tried to protest, took the creature healing him as a sign that Pete had somehow crossed a line and for certain the whole crew was to die now. Pete had thrown back that if he was so afraid he could kill Pete on the spot if he wished, this was met with a string of curses before he finally left; funny how fast the world can change Pete mused as he sat on his bed, staring at the creature while running fingers over where the wounds had once been. There was a dull ache in his shoulder, he hadn’t let the creature heal him fully and Pete wondered if it could make that go away as well or if he’d have to wait it out like any old wound. Time passed and with that Pete thought, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to think though especially since he was so focused on the creature sleeping. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maybe he was under a spell after all, he’d dug through his library convinced the creature must’ve been a Siren from appearance yet he found nothing about Sirens being healers. Why would he though? What do humans know of their kind anyway, Pete had given up searching and had resigned himself to staring up at the canopy of his bed until he heard a faint knock; night time already then? He made a noise but that was all, faint he could hear Gabe coaxing Travis to follow him and both men stood by the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What did you tell them” Pete hadn’t moved from the bed, he knew fully well Gabe must’ve said something </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The creature was thrown aboard during the storm, when we hit port we’re going to sell it”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pete sat up quickly and all but snarled “I am not selling him” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Listen to yourself, you’re under a spell! Barely had the thing more than a day and already claiming it to be yours” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And superstition has you questioning my authority” Pete stood from the bed and went to stand in front of Gabe, acidic glare all the way “he is </span>
  <em>
    <span>mine</span>
  </em>
  <span> and I won’t sell him” he paused, hearing himself he supposed he did sound mad “where we’re going he won’t bring us anything of value. Restock the supplies and be on our way, he stays in here with me. Is that clear?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabe began to says something until Travis interrupted “he could bring something of value though but not by selling him” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That had both captain and first mate silent, Pete frowning and looking at Travis like he’d grown a  second head “by what then? I’ll not parade around showing him off like a show. So what do you propose then?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Travis looked at the sleeping creature with unease before speaking again “if that things there then some of the stories must be true then”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And what exactly do your stories say” Gabe asked dryly</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wealth maybe, or more of that thing. If we can’t make much off selling one then why not find the rest of him?” Travis shrugged at the notion but mention of wealth had both captain and first mate’s attention </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I doubt it’d willingly tell us anything about it’s kind” Gabe regarded the creature with disdain again “can it speak? All I heard was it raising hell”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damned if I know” Pete moved to the tank’s side again and started to reach up to touch his face but stopped, he shot Gabe a glare over his shoulder knowing fully well-and being correct-that his first mate was looking at him disapprovingly “have you a problem with me touching him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Charmed by it” Gabe sneered “fine, I’ll believe this idea that it knows where wealth is. You’ll have to gain its trust won’t you? Then you’ll have to betray it, you seem so enamored by it you think you can handle the look of betrayal it’ll give you, captain?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pete said nothing for a few moments, mixed between wanting to yell at Gabe and wanting to throttle him so he settled on ordering them to leave “just focus on getting us to port” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The water is cold and too dark to see anything through it, faint shadows swim around and it feels as if there is something wrapped around Pete’s throat; he can’t move his arms or legs, is he tied to something? Is he being held by some creature he can’t see? There’s flashes of colors, jeweled scales dancing in and out of sight, and each time whatever has Pete by his throat gets tighter and tighter until dots begin to dance in his eyes. Is this punishment? Is this nightmare punishment for keeping the creature instead of releasing it back to the sea? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There’s a wrenching pain and Pete begins to wretch violently with coughs, nothing is in front of him but maybe behind and as the pain worsens there is blood slowly rising from his shirt; for just a moment Pete sees pale clawed hands holding a red organ before he sees several shining things rushing at him-</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sat up in a cold sweat, grabbing at where his heart was while gasping to breathe, what in the </span>
  <em>
    <span>hell </span>
  </em>
  <span>had that been? There’s low whimpering in the dark and as Pete’s eyes adjust he begins to see a faint iridescent glow coming from where the tank is, in the dark there’s two blue eyes staring at Pete. it’s the fear and adrenaline rush that have him up and out of his bed, grabbing the dagger he leaves under his pillow before grabbing the creature by his hair and pressing the blade to his throat; he lets out panicked and feared cries, Pete sees fear in those blue eyes but they’re mixed with confusion, what the hell is there to be confused about? It’s the fear and adrenaline that has Pete pressing the blade tighters to the pale throat and has him gripping the soft hair tighter. He feels the hands grabbing at both arms and expects the creature to try and claw at him, instead he feels them trying to push him away and somehow the gentle act makes Pete let go and step away; he hears it whimpering as he goes to light and a candle and in the soft orange light the creature looks even more unreal than before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s careful as he returns to the creature’s side, it could attack him for hurting it for all he knew, but instead once he was beside it his hand was grabbed and smushed against the creature’s cheek. It clicked then why he had clung to Pete instead of attacking him earlier that evening and why even now he wasn’t removing Pete’s eyes, he must’ve been a little conscious of Pete petting his face when he’d been whimpering and now it wanted the same gentle touch. The captain sat on that thought for a bit longer as he stroked the creature’s cheek, the first thing it had to associate to Pete was gentleness, was that it? Pete wasn’t sure if he was glad that was the first impression or if he should pity the poor thing. Faintly Pete noticed that he must’ve nicked the creature’s throat, a small bead of blood had begun to slowly drip down his chest and with Pete’s free hand he reached up to carefully tilt the creature’s head back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry” Pete mumbled seeing the red line, he felt a small twinge of guilt and wondered to himself just </span>
  <em>
    <span>why </span>
  </em>
  <span>(wasn’t it the creature’s fault, that nightmare he just had?)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In response there was a small...well Pete wasn’t sure what the noise was but it sounded sweet and musical, he assumed it was a forgiving sound. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a few more seconds they stayed that way, Pete wondering if the creature would do whatever magic it had done earlier but instead he heard a small uncomfortable sound and moved his hand away allowing the creature to look at him again. Again his hand was grabbed and pressed to the creature’s cheek, was he desperate for even the slightest affection? Pete found that a little amusing in a pitiable way, regardless this time he returned to the petting and was rewarded with another musical sound. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You like being pet, don’t you?” Pete mused after a bit, the creature sighed and Pete smiled a small smile “won’t speak to me, after I made sure you didn’t die on my ship?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue eyes snapped open and it might’ve been possible there was a flash of lightning in them, the creature slapped Pete’s hand away and made a high whine sound; The captain had his hand against his chest, stinging and surprised at how hard the creature could hit, had he offended it? Looking again the thunder had turned into a look of hurt, sighing Pete cupped the creature’s face again and mumbled another apology. The creature didn’t snuggle into Pete’s hand this time but allowed him to resume the affection, what a fickle thing he was being; Pete moved closer ‘till he could lay his elbow on the tank’s edge and finally the blue eyes slid close in favor of nuzzling the hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Like a pleased cat </span>
  </em>
  <span>Pete thought, almost laughing when he realized the slight vibration he was feeling was purring “feeling good?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He barely felt the nod before the eyes opened halfway again, even drunk-looking with sleep the creature looked beautiful; Pete hoped it would speak words when he saw the creature’s lips move but all he received in turn was a series of soft low sounds. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Could he even speak english? All those tales Pete remembered said Sirens could lure people in with the promise of whatever they wanted, but did that mean they only needed to speak during tempting moments? Or maybe there was something wrong with the creature after all, damaged from being thrown around. He sighed and decided to sleep again, maybe that nightmare was only his paranoia from both Gabe’s blathering and his own head trying to scare him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a very big mistake. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The creature’s eyes snapped open and he let out a panicked scream, quickly Pete dropped back to his knees and winced as claws dug into his back to keep him close; the skin being pressed to his felt too warm and Pete almost wondered if the creature was sick but cast that thought aside to calm him back down. He shook violently in Pete’s arms and while skin wasn’t being broken Pete still hissed as fingers scrabbled along his back as if Pete would disappear completely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Stop </span>
  </em>
  <span>you’re hurting me again” Pete snapped</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The creature froze stiff before starting to try pushing him away, </span>
  <em>
    <span>for fucks sake what did he want</span>
  </em>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pete grabbed the hands pressed to his chest and the creature stopped moving, a melancholy expression on the other’s face “I didn’t say get away, I said stop. You’re going to rip my back open” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s a whimper but the creature still cuddles back to Pete’s chest again, he pressed his face into the crook of Pete’s neck and made another small sound. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This close Pete started to pet down his back, the creature started purring again and even pressed closer; along the creature’s back Pete felt little patches here and there of scales, reaching under the water to feel along the creature’s torso where the tail began. There was a little displeased growl and Pete quickly moved his hand back up to the middle of the creature’s back, okay so touching his tail was a little much for the creature. Speaking of much, Pete was starting to get tired again, wouldn’t the creature let him go this time? Probably not; probably going to force Pete to stay beside it all night and in the morning the captain would have a hellish temper everyone had to deal with, all because Pete can’t say no to his pet. Oh? And when did he start to consider the creature his pet? For some reason this thought disturbed him enough to push again, ignoring the whine and the stinging claws he stood only to almost collapse back to the floor at the creature grabbing his legs. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s enough from you!” the creature recoiled at Pete’s shouting, was yelling the only way to make it behave? Fine, as much as Pete didn’t want to raise his voice both on account of the sleeping crew and frightening the creature into never letting him touch him again he was tired and he had a ship to sail “I pet long enough, gave you enough attention and gave you my time I should’ve spent sleeping. You’ll let me back to bed, understand?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He ignored the kicked look he received, moved away fast enough before those hands could grab him again and made his way to his bed; as soon as the candle was out he heard the creature weeping and grit his teeth, if Pete knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep because of this thing being a needy child he would have listened to Gabe and thrown it back in the ocean-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Scared!” Pete was half under the sheets when he heard that voice, soft yet sound scratchy from dis-use. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No, no, you’re not going to light the candle back just because it spoke to you finally. You have authority to uphold, not bend to whenever your pet needs you </span>
  </em>
  <span>despite Pete’s mind saying this the candle though low was lit up again and he saw tear streaks reflecting from the creature’s face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stood a few feet from the tank, looking down at the whimpering creature before speaking “you live in the ocean but you’re afraid of the dark” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The creature shook his head and made grabby hands at Pete, the captain snorted in annoyance and turned to return to bed but stopped again “not home! Afraid not home!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And now the creature was sobbing and Pete just stared because for once in a long time in his life he found himself torn between ignoring someone’s distress and caring for himself or caring for the one in distress; in the end with a heavy and disgruntled sigh Pete blew the candle out and lay in his bed, in the dark the creature’s crying sounded echoed as if the night was punishing him for making the other miserable. God, but what if he had made a mistake? Slowly as sleep finally began to claim him, he dreaded that maybe Gabe was right after all and he’d made a mistake. </span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>The sky was cloudy that morning, reflecting the captain’s mood as he snapped at all and anyone that somehow hit a nerve; Gabe didn’t even make any quips like Pete had expected, maybe he realized Pete would have no problem cutting his throat if he accused Pete of pampering his pet or other. That morning when Pete had woken up with the feeling of a hammer being beaten in his head he’d looked over at the tank to see the creature had curled in on himself, even in his sleep the thing was hiccuping in small sobs and while maybe Pete would’ve felt bad he instead had to resist the urge to pop it over the head. By noon port didn’t seem any closer and Pete’s headache had worsened, he’d retired to his quarters in an attempt to figure out money but ended up laying miserably in his bed. The creature still hadn’t moved from his moping state, barely lifted his head when Pete had first entered his quarters, and now Pete lay watching him to try and at least focus on something other than the pouding pain in his head. His head wound wasn’t helping any either and it gave Pete a quick thought, enough to get him to drag his sorry self out of the bed to plop beside the tank.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The creature jumped hearing the thump and looked at him with the same hurt look as last night, Pete wasn’t in the mood for this and grabbed the other’s hand to press against the head wound; he hissed but it was his own fault for adding the pressure, the creature let out a sound of concern but Pete could see in his eyes that he was thinking about whether to help or not. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please, it hurts so much” Pete put as much hurt into his voice as he could, most of it wasn’t even needed since he was certain something was trying to chisel his skull open “please make it stop” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His irritated state almost ruins it for him, the look of pity he receives makes him feel pathetic almost but then he feels the cold water creeping up him again, this time he shuts his eyes and shudders as it crawls up his neck and to his head; it feels almost like vertigo when it touches the wound, Pete feels his gut lurch but is steadied by the creature cupping his face to steady him. When the cold leaves Pete’s headache is only minor but still there, it’s not what he was hoping for but when his eyes meet the creature’s he reached up to brush his fingers along the other’s cheek with a mumbled “thank you”. He gets a soft whistle noise in turn, probably a welcome, and for a few seconds Pete does pet the creature’s face again- as a reward, that’s what he tells himself, he’s still mad that it kept him up most of the night, he isn’t petting it to help calm himself down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re my little miracle, aren’t you?” Pete rubs a spot under where the creature’s ears would be if it were human, instead iridescent fins wiggled a little followed by a content sigh “my little miracle, you take care of me and I’ll take care of you yeah?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Speaking of care as if on cue there was a low rumble sound and the creature jerked back from Pete with wide eyes before looking at the captain’s stomach, Pete caught his hand before he could poke him. Right, Pete hadn’t eaten at all that day, maybe there was some fruit below he could snack on quickly...wait.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You need food don’t you?” the creature nodded, Pete hadn’t let go of his hand and now he was playing with Pete’s fingers “well I did say I’ll take care of you...I’ll have to bring you food. What do you eat? Can you tell me?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s silence now and Pete feels annoyed again, is it a struggle for the creature to speak? Quietly though all the creature says is “hunger” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pete sighs and nods, taking his hand back and standing “You'll eat what I bring you"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The creature just nods.</span>
</p>
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